Among the recruiters was Dominique Worship, 22, of Pembroke Pines, a fresh graduate of the University of Florida. She joined ONE in the fall of 2008 after studying abroad in South Africa and Mexico, where she conducted research for her senior thesis on street children.
“I saw the gap, the disparities between developed countries and the underdeveloped countries and it really pulled at the heart strings,” she said. “I saw ONE as a powerful enough movement to make a difference, to have an impact.”
Last year, as president of the ONE chapter at UF, Worship organized a Thanksgiving fundraiser called the Oxfam Hunger Banquet. The goal was to highlight the disproportionate distribution of global wealth. The attendees were divided by income groups.
Of the nearly 100 participants, more than half were assigned to the low-income group, which was fed rice. A quarter of them were sent to the middle-income group, which was served rice and beans. The remainder, a little more than 10 percent, got the full course — a salad, an entrée of spaghetti and dessert.
“We got a very positive reaction,” she said. “It gave just a glimpse of the disparity and the speakers we had [from homeless organizations] helped drive home the point, too.”
ONE’s got battalions of volunteers in South Florida and across the country. They write letters and send emails to elected leaders and knock on doors seeking to add new voices.
In early 2009, an educator trying to start a chapter at Pembroke Pines Charter High School reached out to the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board. At the time, the teacher organizing the group asked if we would publish an op-ed from her, a sort of call for volunteers.
I thought she had no chance of succeeding, not with all the causes and distractions teens have before them these days. Not with a cause that can be as foreign and distant as mosquito nets for villages on other side of the planet. But I printed her op-ed, figuring it was a simple way of backing and encouraging one teacher trying to inspire kids to look beyond their suburb, their shopping mall and their multiplex.
I am happy to say I was wrong. The high school’s ONE chapter has been a success, and the teacher, Danielle DePas, has written subsequent op-eds backing ONE’s causes.
West Palm Beach resident Sara Donaldson, ONE’s regional field director, said once people realize how many lives can be saved, they are eager to support efforts to help those living in extreme poverty.
Which is the moral of this story. U2′s music and performances draw rave reviews. But for many of those in attendance, the concert wasn’t the only purpose.
It was about raising their voices, too.
Email Sun Sentinel Editorial Page Editor Antonio Fins at afins@SunSentinel.com or follow him on Twitter @OpineFins.
Bono is also meeting with members of the Obama Administration while he is in town to discuss these same issues. Urged on by ONE members, President Obama 
